My Gamer Academia
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Summary: In a world of heroes with powers based on games, of course a school for heroes has arisen! With the start of a new years, new students come together to learn how to become great Gamers and save the world. Louise Valliere sets out to become a great hero. Join her and her classmates as she uses her ability, Overlord, to reach her dream. Level Up!
1. Loading…

In the early 21st century, a miracle occurred. In Italy, a boy was found who could grow drastically bigger and stronger by eating mushrooms. It was a phenomenon that was completely against so-called 'common sense', and could only be described as a superpower.

Over the years, more and more people began to exhibit similar abilities, and it soon became obvious, after much denial by authorities, that a pattern was emerging.

All superpowers were in some way related to videogames. Because of this, people with special powers eventually became known as Gamers.

This emergence, which came to be known as the New Game Plus, changed the world forever. The world has become a superhuman society, and about 80% of the world's population now possesses some kind of special game-related trait. In this new world, the profession that everyone once dreamed about and admired came to the fore. Heroic Gamers fighting griefers, trolls, scrubs and villains, saving people from distress.

This is the story of a world of heroes!

….

My Gamer Academia

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Chapter 1: _**Loading…**_

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story. The story itself is parody and folklore, and protected speech.

….

 _Gamer (_ plural _Gamers): literally, a person who plays games; figuratively, a superhuman in possession of powers tangentially, thematically or explicitly based on a videogame genre, franchise, character, mechanic or theme. Synonyms: hero, mask, cape, super, superhero, yuusha, brave, rider, ranger, sailor, power. Connotations: 'Gamer' is used as both a familiar and derogatory term for both people in possession of superpowers and people who play videogames in general, who often casually and proudly refer to themselves as Gamers but generally consider it a demeaning term when applied to them by the press, figures in authority, government officials and people without powers. See:_ _ **Normie.**_

– _**Gamefaq's Guide to Gamers**_

….

It was a beautiful, perfectly average day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the public BGM was playing the area's boring but non-offensive melody over the morning stillness of the residential housing community, and Itsuka Shidou and his little sister Kotori locked up the house as they left for school.

"Remember onii-chan, we're meeting at the family restaurant after school okay? The family restaurant! Remember it, it's important! It's so important I said it twice!" Kotori said in the Japanese they spoke at home.

"Yes, yes," Shidou said. "It was my idea Kotori, I'm not likely to forget. Be there on time, okay? If you're going to me late, message me."

"Yeah, yeah," Kotori said, turning to run towards where she was going to be meeting her friends to go to the middleschool she attended. "See you later onii-chan!"

"And be careful!" Shidou cried after her before he sighed and turned to head towards his own school.

Itsuka Shidou was a perfectly ordinary first year highschool student, of the sort to be found anywhere. He had the kind of bland, generic good looks that were a nameless, voiceless videogame main character staple, and thus was currently a very popular and manly look, the way greased hair, the mullet, the samurai topknot and the afro used to be. He was a student at Gamer Academy, the premiere founding branch of the premiere international school for Gamers aspiring to be heroes in the world (or so they said. Many schools in the world tried to make similar claims).

Given that the competition to get into GA was fierce (though not as fierce, his parents had often told him, as trying to get into a school back in the old country), Shidou had been accepted on the basis of his adequate grades, his high scores in Applied Moral and Ethics, adequate entrance test results, and most especially his sterling psychological test results, which identified him as 'basically vanilla, with no entitlement issues, arrogance, delusions of grandeur, desires for vengeance or extreme fetishes, and a strong sense of heroism, with mild self-sacrificing tendencies'.

Gamer Academy, unlike many schools, considered that having the right attitude was more important than grades or the old cliché of having the overall highest score on the entrance exam. Other schools disagreed. GA considered that their problem.

This being the first day of school, Shidou had taken care to get up extra early. Although he'd often seen and passed by the GA before, this was the first time he was actually going there as a student. He passed by Cafe Adolescenza, the coffee shop run by his friend and his mother, but it was still closed, and it looked like Souji had already left. Shidou made his way alone.

The train to the part of Arcadia City where the Academy was located was crowded as expected. Student's, businessmen and Gamers in their assorted uniforms– as opposed to costumes, which were what cosplayers wore– crowded in as they made their way towards the day's work. Even the women's car was full, and in fact seemed to be more crowded than the other train cars. Shidou hoped there were no Eroge-types or common perverts around.

When they reached the stop for the Academy, there was a nigh-literal flood of humanity as students and other passengers rushed out, the uniformed students heading for the special Academy station exit which accepted only student IDs. Such as the one in Shidou's pocket.

For a moment, Shidou took a moment to stop and stare at his ID. Above the usual information of his name, classroom and picture was the logo of Gamer Academy, a heraldic shield with two vertical lines and a circle depicted as bouncing between them. Beneath that were written the motto of the Academy in simple a pixel-faced font: "Lvl Up!"

Standing there, looking at the ID card in his hand and staring at the logo also emblazoned over the Academy station exit, Itsuka Shidou could feel the world seeming to come together. All the tests, all the work, all the carefully internalized lessons on morality and ethics and what was an wasn't acceptable behavior, all his dreams of becoming not just a gamer, but a Gamer, it all lead to this moment, and–

Someone bumped into him from behind.

With an aborted yelped, Shidou stumbled a foot forward, only a little unbalanced, and turned around to see who had run into him.

By all the logic in the universe, it _should_ have been a generically cute, clumsy girl, perhaps with some breakfast foodstuff in her mouth, sitting painfully on her ass while unconsciously flashing her panties at him and anyone in his general direction. Well, maybe not that last one, since the Gamer Academy uniforms were unisex and required pants for all genders, but the rest should have held.

Instead, Shidou found himself facing a boy with glasses about his own age sitting painfully on his ass, both hands held over his head. In his hands was a gaming unit, one of the latest models. He was holding it like it was a baby he was trying to keep from hitting the ground.

"Safe," the boy said, voice flat, bland and seemingly only a little pained. "My saves are okay."

"Ah, sorry," Shidou said in English, holding out his hand to help the other boy up. "I shouldn't have just been standing around like that. It's my fault."

The other boy seemed to pause a moment before accepting the hand, settling his bag, and bending his head back to his game. "Apology accepted," the boy said, sounding as if he'd already dismissed the matter, and Shidou, from his mind. "Don't do it again." He walked past Shidou towards the Academy station.

For a moment, Shidou stood there, a little confused. That had been… well, kinda rude. Brusque, at the very least. Didn't most people usually apologize too?

Turning, he began to follow the other boy. He didn't really have any particular course of action in mind, he just… well, he wanted to find out who the boy was and why he'd been so brusque. Maybe he was in a hurry? But that didn't really excuse him, they were all in a hurry. But maybe it was some kind of emergency? Had he been called in early to meet with a teacher or something? Perhaps he had paperwork that still needed to be processed? That would explain…

As Shidou became an apologist for the boy he was theoretically intending to call out for being brusque (in a completely polite and non-accusatory manner), he swiped his student ID over the scanner and passed through the turnstile, coming to a large, glassy hall that was brightly illuminated by the morning sunlight. To the right was an open area roped off by distinctive orange waypoint markers. Every few minutes there would be some SFX– a ring of light, a flash, a misting effect, a cloud of darkness, whatever– and a student, or rarely a group of students, would appear using some sort ability.

To his left was a golden mural of the Party of Legendary Gamers, heroically depicting the historic scene when they had founded Arcadia from what had once been North Korea. The Harem King, Negi Springfield, surrounded by smaller depictions of some of his more famous followers. The Goddess, Najimi Ajimu, said to be the most Broken person in the world, with over twelve quadrillion (specifically, 12,858,051,967,633,865) abilities. The Heavy Wind and the Paladin, both clad in seemingly full plate armor and armed with swords, the former a veritable unstoppable tornado, the latter a protective guardian who had guarded and healed fleeing refugees. The Wizard, who had stood in shadow and who was whispered to secretly be the true leader of the Party. And _The_ Gamer, Han Ji-Han, the leader of the group, who still ran Arcadia as its benevolent emperor, commander in chief and international civil rights figure who had been internationally pivotal improving the legal and social standing of Gamers before it they had become a majority.

Shidou didn't give the mural much thought, though he saw a passing pink-haired girl admiring the depiction of the Heavy Wind. They were ancient history from before he was born, back when the world was a messy place full of conflict, when so-called 'normal' people stupidly tried to discriminate against gamers with powers. No wonder there were so few normies now.

And he'd lost track of the boy he was following. Shidou slowed, before remembering what had started this in the first place and resumed his pace, heading for the exit. Ahead, helpful sign, direction and maps had been set up to guide freshmen like himself. Shidou stopped and located where his classroom was on the map, wincing as he saw what floor it was on. Then he remembered he was in highschool now, and more importantly, the highschool was Gamer Academy.

The rules were different here.

Checking the map one last time, he headed out of the station and into the campus proper, looking up at the tall, skyscraper-like highschool building. All around him, some students were jumping, floating, gliding, running up walls and even taking flight as if they'd never done so before. Grinning suddenly, he activated his Gamer ability.

"Let's Date!" he said. "Princess!" He rose into the air, brusque people and petty concerns like finding his classroom momentarily forgotten in the absolute freedom to be found in telling gravity to leave him alone.

After all, a school where one learned to use one's Gamer ability to the fullest was sort of pointless if it didn't let you use your Gamer ability.

Shidou shot into the air, laughing.

….

There was a mad rush down the hallways and up the stairs as panicking freshmen who'd lost track of the time frantically tried to use every power at their disposal to get to their assigned classrooms as soon as possible before attendance, homeroom, and the Freshmen Tutorial began. Fortunately for Shidou, his classroom, 1-G, was only on the second floor, and right next to the stairs at that.

It was kind of reassuring that he wasn't the only one who rushed wildly into the class room with only minutes to spare. There were much panting and trying to find a chair they liked that wasn't already occupied. Looking, Shidou spotted a familiar red-headed face and smiled. "Souji," he said, waving at his friend.

"Hey Shidou-kun," Mitsuka Souji greeted back. In English, Shidou noted. "I saved you a seat."

Souji sat in the middle left, which was a bit more forward than Shidou would have preferred, but he sat down anyway since it was next to his friend. The girl next to Souji, Shidou was not surprised to see, wore her light-green hair in twintails.

Souji made the introductions. "Einhart, this is Itsuka Shidou-kun, my childhood friend, but-definitely-not-in-that-way," Souji said, the last falling into place with the ease of long practice. "Shidou, this is Einhart Stratos."

Shidou gave a nod of greeting. "How do you do, Miss Stratos," he said.

Stratos nodded, looking a bit awkwardly and casting wary glances at Souji.

Fortunately, she was saved by the bell, literally, as it rang to announce the beginning of the school day. As other freshmen scrambled to find seats that weren't in the front or center column, Shidou remembered to set his phone on silent just as the teacher entered the room.

He was a fit but slightly balding man with square-rimmed glasses. There was a fatherly air about him that made Shidou feel relaxed. "Settle down," he said firmly, and surprisingly everyone did. Shidou wondered if mind control was to be suspected.

"I'm Phil Coulson, and starting today I will be your homeroom teacher, and no, I don't have mind control," he said, seemingly making eye contact with Shidou as he said it. "Or mindreading. I'm not a GM class or a Hacker class. I've simply been a teacher longer than most of you have been alive. That means I've heard every excuse in the book, I've run into every unique, world-ending, only-I-can-understand personal problem at least five times, and if I haven't seen it all, I've seen enough to cope with the rest."

He gave them a moment to take that in. "I feel I should also inform you that I'm a normie," Coulson said, and smiled at the awkwardly looks that resulted, Shidou's included. "Don't worry, _we're_ allowed to say it. I don't have an ability. Never have. If you're uncomfortable with this, come see me after school and I'll help you arrange a transfer to a different class. No prejudice. I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable or unable to respect me while you're here." He smiled reassuringly, as if that wasn't some kind of trap at all. "All right then. A quick attendance, and then we'll head for the entrance ceremony. Shout out when I say your name." He raised a sheet of paper and called out. "Lilith Aensland?"

"Present!" a cheerful girl with batwings in her hair called out.

"Akemi Homura?"

A stoic girl raised her hand. "Sir," she said, barely aubible.

"Jaune Arc?"

"Here," nervous-looking blond boy said.

"Ramza Beolve?"

"Here."

"Molly Carpenter?"

"Present," a girl with multicolored hair and many ear piercings said.

"Hope Corrigan?"

"Here, sir," a small blonde said.

"Bell Cranel?"

"H-h-here sir!" a pale-haired boy nervously cried out.

"Chrono Harlaown?"

"Sir," a dark-haired boy said, raising his hand.

"Pidge Holt?"

"Present, sir," a brown-haired boy with glasses said.

"Itsuka Shidou?"

"Present," Shidou said.

"Kagurazaka Asuna?"

"Hai, Coulson-sensei!" a girl with bells in her hair said.

"In English next time please, Miss Kagurazaka," Coulson said. "Katsuragi Keima?"

At the name, Shidou glanced up, as did several other people. Of course they would. Everyone knew that name, even if this was only coincidental.

Katsuragi Keima, the physically reclusive internet celebrity known as the God of Conquest of which no pictures existed. A Hacker Class Meta Type, who was famous for his flawless strategy, precognition and discernment, able to reconstruct and even predict scenarios with almost perfectly. He gave advice that allowed Gamers to get stronger, and several had proclaimed that their reclassification to a higher Power Class was all thanks to his advice, gleamed from his Ability, The World God Only Knows, said to be the precognitive ability to see the so-called 'Golden Ending'.

"Here," a head bent over playing a game unit said. With a start, Shidou recognized the boy that had bumped into it at the station.

Coulson seemed to ignore the breach in classroom etiquette, merely continuing on with the list. "Kim Yoo-Jin?"

"Present," a bespectacled girl with a 'class president-ly' air to her said.

"Kirigaya Kazuto?"

"Sir," a dark-haired boy with bland, generic good looks said.

"Gudako Kyrielite?"

"Here, here, here!" a red-haired girl cried energetically, waving her arm hard.

"Mitsuka Souji?"

"Present," Souji said next to Shidou.

"Narukami Yu?"

"Present," a bland-faced, pale-haired boy with bland, generic good looks said, raising his hand.

"Ruby Rose?"

"Oh, here, here!" another red-haired girl in a darker shade of red cried energetically, waving her hand with slightly more restraint.

"Neptune Sega?"

"The Nepster is _present_!" a girl with pale purple hair said.

"Quite. Shin Sun-Il?"

"Sir," a fit-looking boy next to the window said.

"Einhart Stratos?"

"Present," the girl next to Souji said.

"Sari Sumdac?"

"Present," a dark-skinned redhead said.

"Takamachi Nanoha?"

"Here, sir!" a girl in the front said.

"Tsunetsuki Matoi?"

A girl with bob-cut hair raised a slim arm. "Present," she said.

"Louise Valliere?"

"Present, sir!" a pink-haired girl said, eyes glowing faintly pinkish-yellow.

"Wally West?"

"Present," a pale, red-headed young man said.

"Yuuki Asuna?"

"Present!" a chestnut-haired girl replied.

"Yuki Makoto?"

"Present!" replied a girl with earphones hanging around her neck.

Coulson nodded, clearly having reached the end of his list. "All right. Everyone get ready to file out and follow me to the entrance ceremony." He stood, then paused. A slightly mischievous look came over his face. "You guys might want to bring something to do. This is probably going to be a long one." He winked, and stepped out of the room.

Everyone looked nonplussed for a moment, before hesitantly filing out of the room, some grabbing books and manga from bags. Shidou, after a moment's hesitation, grabbed his phone.

There was, he saw, a message on it from an unfamiliar number. Resisting the comical urge to glance nervously around, he opened the message.

 _Ara ara, Shidou-kun. Congratulations on getting into Gamer Gakuen. I do so look forward to seeing how much you learn._

 _-TK_

Shidou sighed. Now he was going to be late meeting with Kotori at the restaurant. Holding back another sigh, Shidou resigned himself to having to go to the police station after school to report he'd received yet another message from a known terrorist.

Damn it Kurumi!

….

 **\- To be continued…**

….

 **Name** : Itsuka Shidou

 **Power Type:** Galge Type

 **Power Class:** Main Character Class

 **Ability Name:** Date A Live

 **Ability Description:** By building relationship points with girls (and, theoretically, boys) to a high degree of affection such that a voluntary mutual kiss occurs, Shidou is capable of utilizing a limited copy of that person's abilities. The higher the relationship points, the closer it becomes to a perfect copy of the ability in question, even if the ability is of a higher Power Class. The ability is activated declaring "Let's Date" and the name of the copied ability to be utilized. In emergency situations, there is a high probability of the automatic activation of the ability set that will most likely prevent death.

So far, Shidou has copies of the abilities of the following people:

 **Name:** Yatogami Tohka; **Power Type:** Musou Type; **Power Class:** Main Character; **Ability Name:** Princess

 **Name:** Takamiya Yoshino; **Power Type:** Summoner Type; **Power Class:** Main Character Class; **Ability Name:** Hermit

 **Name:** Tokisaki Kurumi; **Power Type:** Action/RTStrategy/Meta Type; **Power Class:** Hacker Class; **Ability Name:** Nightmare

 **Name:** Itsuka Kotori; **Power Type:** Musou Type; **Power Class:** Main Character Class; **Ability Name:** Efreet

 **Name:** Yamai Kaguya; **Power Type:** Musou Type; **Power Class:** Main Character Class; **Ability Name:** Berserk Lance

 **Name:** Yamai Yuzuru; **Power Type:** Musou Type; **Power Class:** Main Character Class; **Ability Name:** Berserk Chain

 **Name:** Izayoi Miku; **Power Type:** RTStrategy/Music Type; **Power Class:** GM Class; **Ability Name:** Diva

 **Name:** Tobiichi Origami; **Power Type:** Final Boss Type; **Power Class:** Main Character Class; **Ability Name:** Devil Angel

 **Name:** Amamiya Mayuri; **Power Type:** Musou Type; **Power Class:** Main Character **; Ability Name:** Judgement

….

 _A Note On Power Class_

Power Class is a relative measure on an ability's capacity to affect the world, especially other Gamers. Note that this measure does not take into account whether or not, and if so, how strongly, an ability violates physical laws like thermodynamics and conservation of energy. The Power Classes are:

Background Class: an ability that is a purely aesthetic, ranging from bestowing a color of hair or skin that did not naturally exist before the New Game Plus to small, non-functional and purely cosmetic anatomical changes like vestigial horns, tails, non-flight capable wings, glowing eyes and other small changes. Those who possess Background Class abilities are near indistinguishable from prime humans who do not possess abilities whatsoever in regards to physical and mental capabilities. Consists of approximately 35% of the Gamer population and 28% of the total world population.

Timesink Class: an ability of limited complexity, narrow scope, is only perceivable by only the party in possession of it, by only one other party besides the one in possession of it at a time, is only able to reproduce single basic animal responses to stimuli, only minutely violates the laws of physics, is otherwise comparable to an analog party game or toy, or some combination of the above. Examples range from the ability to remotely control playing cards only for the purpose of playing solitaire or some other card game, being able to project and play a non-corporeal monochrome simple game in the air, creating non-animal phenomenon that grow in real time, having a sound effect play when you correctly spell a word or perform basic arithmetic, and having a virtual girlfriend that only you can physically interact with. Consists of approximately 30% of the Gamer population and 24% of the total world population.

NPC Class: an ability that, in addition to the capabilities of Timesink class abilities, is capable of great complexity, wide scope, perceivable to multiple parties, is able to independently reproduce multiple basic animal and emotional responses to stimuli, able to produce single basic near human-like intelligent and emotional responses to stimuli, capable of limited linear growth, clearly violates the laws of physics, able to physically affect the world on a scale equal to its physical manifestation, conveys limited faculty or skill within a limited area of expertise, creates low levels of limited dimensional distortion, allows for the basic to fine manipulation, manufacture and alteration of basic periodic element materials, and creating organic phenomena that grow at an accelerated rate. A general guideline of NPC class abilities is that they allow one to perform tasks that one would theoretically normally be able to do, but at greater speed, without or fewer requisite materials, to a greater degree or with greater convenience. Examples include the manifestation of near-human intelligence entities (Vocaloid Type, Eroge Type, Summon Type Abilities), the creation semi-randomized creation of multiple semi-autonomous physical manifestations of animal intelligence entities (Summon Type, Mon Type), the manufacture of products (Crafting Type), the storage of large or numerous small object in personalized dimensional distortions, limited healing, the automatic recording, sorting and classification of information, and having a limited selection of available background music. Consists of approximately 13% of the Gamer population and 10% of the total world population.

Deuteragonist Class: an ability that, in addition to the capabilities of NPC class abilities, is capable of limitless linear growth, enhanced physical, mental and cognitive abilities, able to independently reproduce multiple basic near human-like intelligent and emotional responses to stimuli and limited ability roughly equivalent to Deuteragonist class, individual physical manifestation of single instances of basic animal and emotional responses to stimuli capable of ability manifestation roughly equivalent to GM class, energy projection, spontaneous generation of physical matter within a narrow scope, flight, healing, spontaneously acquired skills within a limited scope or theme, high speed movement, spontaneous weapon generation, physical appearance manipulation and cessation of aging. Due to the wide breadth and range of abilities possible at Deuteragonist class, it is considered a minimum standard level. If the ability is more versatile than NPC class, or exhibits the capacities of multiple NPC class abilities simultaneously, the ability is classified at minimum to be Deuteragonist class. 12% of the Gamer population and 9.6% of the total world population are believed to be Dueteragonist class, though due to the similar ranges of Deuteragonist and Main Character class abilities, as well as aspects of abilities that are overlooked in standardized testing or remain unregistered upon discovery, the ratio might be much lower, with an accompanying increase in the percentage of Main Character class abilities.

Main Character Class: an ability that, in addition to the capabilities of Deuteragonist class abilities, is capable of the generation of multiple instances of human-equivalent intelligent entities capable of independent thought, action, reasoning and ability manifestation roughly equivalent to GM class; generation of multiple instances of animal-equivalent intelligent entities capable of animal-like intelligent and emotional responses to stimuli and limited ability manifestation roughly equivalent to Hacker class, limited discernment of personal information, limited agelessness, spontaneous skill acquisition in the presence of relevant stimuli, extreme mechanical alteration of vehicles, creation of high technology objections function using previously unknown principles, ability mimicry and simulation, etc. Due to the wide breadth and range of abilities possible at Main Character class, it is usually defined by a lack of capacity found in GM class abilities. Consists of approximately 10% of the Gamer population and 7.92% of the total world population.

GM Class: an ability that, in addition to the capabilities of Main Character class abilities, can affect the functioning of other abilities to a basic degree for a limited length of time (ranging from one hour to one week), whether positively ("buff") or detrimentally ("debuff"). This class of ability also allows for temporary large-area, basic alterations to the world, or limited area, major alterations of the world for extended lengths of time. Abilities of this class are also usually capable of narrow and limited intrusive information acquisition usually limited to abilities, generation and access of information that the gamer has not yet encountered, limited exponential growth, limited spontaneous resurrection, and limited temporary physical alteration of non-ability capabilities. The ability most commonly used as a baseline for this class is the Meta Type ability commonly known as "Ban Hammer" (use, application and methodology need not involve hammers), which can externally deactivate abilities of Deuteragonist Class with nearly absolute certainty, most abilities Main Character class with reasonable certainty, some abilities of GM class with some certainty (including other instances of Ban Hammer), and a few abilities of Hacker Class depending on statistical improbability. Attempts to use Ban Hammer on Coder Class abilities is met with ridicule. All abilities that can compromise another's free will are automatically recognized as GM class. Consists of approximately 0.1% of the Gamer population and 0.08% of the total world population.

Hacker Class: an ability that can affect the functioning of other abilities to a complex degree for an extended length of time (ranging from one year to indefinitely), whether positively ("buff") or detrimentally ("debuff"). This class of ability also allows for large-area, major alterations to the world, or limited area, permanent alterations of the world for indefinite lengths of time. Abilities of this label may remove, install, modify, and theoretically copy and pirate lower class abilities, as well as intrusive information acquisition. All abilities with controllable and targeted information penetration and acquisition capabilities are automatically recognized as Hacker class abilities. Consists of an estimated 0.0015% of the Gamer population and 0.0018% of the total world population.

Coder Class: a godlike, broken, cheaty, are-you-fucking-kidding-me ability. Only a single instance of such an ability (Power Type: Meta; Ability Name: "Gameshark") is known to exist, in the possession of Najimi Ajimu ("The Goddess"), though she has stated that 6 other instances like it exist in the world. This claim is currently unsubstantiated. There is no Power Class higher than Coder.

Note that Power Classes are usually assigned relative other classes within the same Power Type.

….

Please review, C&C and Tvtropes pages welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	2. New Game, Start!

In the early 21st century, a miracle occurred. In Italy, a boy was found who could grow drastically bigger and stronger by eating mushrooms. It was a phenomenon that was completely against so-called 'common sense', and could only be described as a superpower.

Over the years, more and more people began to exhibit similar abilities, and it soon became obvious, after much denial by authorities, that a pattern was emerging.

All superpowers were in some way related to videogames. Because of this, people with special powers eventually became known as Gamers.

This emergence, which came to be known as the New Game Plus, changed the world forever. As the number of Gamers increased, people, reasonably or unreasonably, began to fear and hate them. In this new world, the profession that everyone once dreamed about and admired came to the fore. Heroic Gamers fighting racists, mongering politicians, and villains, saving people from persecution.

This is the story of a world of heroes!

….

My Gamer Academia

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Chapter 2: New Game, Start!

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story. The story itself is parody and folklore, and protected speech.

….

 _Although we can measure and quantify their effects, we will probably never know how Gamer powers work. They are supernatural in the literal sense; they appear to have no cause in nature. Science's greatest minds have been wrestling with it since the New Game Plus, and the best they've come up with is the statement that there is obviously an immaterial phenomenon at work that we can only observe and measure through material means. It's not the first time this has happened; for example we know how gravity_ acts _, but we can measure it only by its effects and we still don't know why mass creates gravity_. _Although of course we have some theories we like for their consistency and elegance._

 _Why these powers always bear a connection to videogames, even ones as simple as Pong or standard computerized Solitaire, is a question best left to philosophy, writers of fiction, and religion._

– Dr. Satomi Hakase, _Science and Gamers_

….

The entrance ceremony was, predictably, long, longwinded, boring, and thankfully had them sitting rather than standing through it. Mr. Coulson had been right that it was going to be a long one. He'd neglected to mention they wouldn't care.

Louise Valliere was a perfectly ordinary highschool student, of the sort to be found anywhere, whether it be in the modern institutions of Arcadia, the sweaty, underfunded hick schools of a third world country of yesterday, or even a parallel world early-modern European country ruled by magical aristocrats. She had the bright pink hair and eyes, legal-loli body, and voice reminiscent of the late, great Kugimiya Rie that were an ensemble cast standard, even videogame main character staple, and thus was, if not a popular and womanly look, then at least had its adherents, no matter how suspicious and borderline deviant and criminal they might be. She was a student of Gamer Academy, the premiere founding branch of the premiere international school for Gamers aspiring to be heroes in the world (or so they said. Japan kept claiming theirs was better, and America kept going on about how it was traditional for super-powered defenders of humanity to train in a converted mansion).

She honestly didn't pay much attention to the vice-principal's speech, the speeches and appeals of the various sports teams and clubs (though she did make a note of the name of the Armorer Club and Weapons Forgers Club), the student guilds, the various hobby clubs (literature club? Really? Those still existed? Haven't these people heard of VN?) and the various in-school religious groups.

At the end, after a speech from the student council president (Meda-something, a girl with a disgustingly-sized pair of tits), there was a hush as one of the only two people who had not yet spoken rose.

Of course, everyone had noticed them as soon as they'd sat down. It was hard not to.

Han Ji-Han. Despite his bland, generic good looks that made him look like a nameless, voiceless videogame main character from a JRPG, his was a familiar and distinctive face, one that had not changed since the public had first glimpsed it decades ago. Not just any Gamer but _The_ Gamer, who exemplified what it mean to have Gamer powers. He didn't have blood to spill, only HP. No muscles to train, only stat points. He learned skills from books not by reading them, but by touching a book, consuming it and learning the skills inside with a flick of a 'yes/no' choice. The man who, not without admitted irony, ruled the land of Arcadia (formerly North Korea) as a benevolent, mostly hands-off, absolute ruler, advised but not really limited by the Arcadean Parliament. After all, how exactly were they supposed to limit a man who had once, so the story went, tanked a nuke at ground zero and didn't even get a sunburn?

Beside him had sat the man about to give the next speech. Negi Springfield. His was _not_ a generic face. Classically handsome in a boyish way that seemed likely to last even when he started getting wrinkles, for now it was framed with bright, literally red hair. The Harem King, a name that he'd been embarrassed to learn of but had eventually adopted as, the story went, he really couldn't think of anything better that wouldn't be turned into a euphemism anyway. Said to have dozens, even hundreds of close, personal friends with benefits, all granted new or stronger abilities with a kiss from his lips. Constantly surrounded by salacious gossip but surprisingly little scandal despite the size of his publically recognized followers. Indeed, the last major scandal had been his appointment as head administrator of Gamer Academy after a long career of being a supporter of education. There had been those that had believed that 'such a man' should not be put in charge of their children's education.

His reply had been, "I'm a father too, and this is as much for my children as yours. More. My children fill up classrooms on their own. Lots of classrooms."

He had remained appointed and the matter eventually faded away, though a generation of students had wondered how many of the people next to them had the same famous father.

They were two of the Legendary Gamers who founded Arcadia, and the two who still had an active hand in running it, the rest having disappeared from the world (well, Najimi Ajimu lived in a small house next to a cherry blossom tree on a small floating island above the Legendary Palace, but for all intents and purposes it amounted to the same thing) except for sporadic public appearances to commemorate historical events.

For all his fame, the Harem King's speech was as plain, bland and generic as any other teacher's, which was a shame, because his enthusiasm and wish that they get the best education possible from the Academy was genuine and as earnest as a child's. It was like have a cute puppy cheering you on. You just didn't want to disappoint that little face.

And then he'd sat down and _the_ Gamer had stood to speak, and everyone gazed with rapt attention. Not because he could summarily put them to death (he could certainly kill them all where he stood, but that would be murder, and the rest of his party would be on his ass like white on rice, not to mention every Gamer on the planet who thought they could take him down), but because of, let's face it, hero worship.

His words were simple and to the point. "Hey," he said. "Pay attention, okay. A lot of the stuff you'll learn here, I had to learn the hard way, and if I hadn't really lucky, I'd have been killed before I learned it. So pay attention. Because unless _you_ got really lucky, this is the only life you have. We might be Gamers, but this is still real life. We don't get respawns." He paused. " _Most_ of us don't get respawns. If you do, congratulations. And hope there's nothing out there that can take you out anyway."

He crossed his arms and nodded. "Good luck, and remember: solo players die. Parties get the loot."

And then came the school song, because every learning institution _always_ had a school song, which was only not embarrassing to sing at school with everyone else, and then it was back to the tender care of their homeroom teachers (in their case Mr. Coulson) to get down to the nitty gritty of learning what they were in for.

It had, Louise considered as they stood up and began the slow process of getting back to their classrooms, been an experience, seeing two heroes, not just in the colloquial sense but the historic sense, in the flesh. Still, it had been a touch disappointing. Ah, if only her hero the Heavy Wind had been present as well. The Goddess might have been more powerful, but the Heavy Wind was more courageous, an inspiration for all women who chose to walk the path of the Gamer.

"He was cute," her childhood friend, but-definitely-not-in-that-way, Molly Carpenter said, prompting her out of her Heavy Wind-filled reverie.

"Who, the Harem King?" Louise said, giving her friend a look. "Oh, please don't be like one of those sad girls trying to hook up with him."

Molly grinned. "Nah, The Gamer. Our overdude and master. He looked good for his age. I mean, he should be as old as my dad. Talk about aging gracefully."

Louise waved a dismissive hand. "Gamer Body," she said, the capitals slotting into place to denote the not-uncommon skill. "Heck, he's _the_ textbook example of Gamer Body on record. Of course he wouldn't age."

"You're taking the fun out of this Louise," Molly complained as they waited their turn to leave the auditorium. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine, be a sexless killjoy. How's your new grinding club working out for you?"

Louise gave her a level looks for that 'sexless killjoy' comment, but allowed herself to be diverted. "Better. They've got better drops and plenty of maps, so people aren't running into each other and killstealing. They even had a few mine maps, though you have to be a premium member or pay extra for those. But they were having a membership special, so I got to try it out for an hour. Pretty good, and I even found enough steel to almost break even."

"Toldja," Molly said. "My mom got a premium card to mine steel for the forge for a month, I just go there for the exp. They even had this horror-themed dungeon, but you have to be really hardcore and high level for that one. Creepy shit. Where'd you hang out?"

"Oh, they had this quantity-over-quality field filled with slimes," Louise said. "I kinda just sat there and read while the minions went nuts. Lucky it was a big field. Got a huge haul of lifeforce."

"Good, that means you can tank for me later," Molly said. "There's a rare drop I'm trying to get from this huge dungeon they have, and so far I haven't even gotten into the first floor boss room."

"Sure," Louise said. "Maybe we can invite some of the girls in class too?"

"Why not?" Molly grinned. "I could always use more tanks."

Louise rolled her eyes. "I'm just a meat shield to you, aren't I?"

Molly stared at the other girl, who was more than a foot shorter and whom she outweighed by at least fifty pounds. "Maybe if I strap you to my arm," she said.

"Um, excuse me?" the boy in front of them said, looking over his shoulder at them. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing. Um, if you need a tank in your party, I'm free later."

Louise took a mental step back and let Molly take the lead, which she did by giving the boy a critical once-over. He had pale white hair and vivid red eyes, common enough features in this day and age, but his hesitant attitude made him look less like a bland, generically good-looking main character type and more like an underconfident rabbit. One that looked like they were reconsidering speaking up as they came under scrutiny.

"Hmm…" Molly sfx-ed, pursing her lips and stroking her chin in a way that said she watched too much anime, to actually do that IRL. "Bell, right? Got a girlfriend?"

The rabbit, if anything, went from underconfident to borderline panicked. "N-no! Why–?"

Molly smirked and leaned forward in a way that Louise had always envied. "Looking for one?" she said suggestively.

Red eyes widened as he glanced at Louise in a vain plea for support. Confusion and panic decided to get the hell out of there. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you," Bell burbled, turning away and trying not to be noticed. Since he was still walking right in front of them, this plan turned out to be badly thought out.

Molly leaned forward and draped an arm over his shoulder. "Oh, relax," she said, showing teeth. It might have been a grin. It might have been an overextension of the rabbit metaphor. "You passed the test. You're in."

"R-really?" Bell said, sounding surprised. "W-what test?"

"Now, there's no need to bring up the past," Molly said dismissively. "So, gotta ask: you've partied before, right?"

"Um, well, sure. Mostly on special occasions though," he said. "Mostly birthdays"

"I'm not talking about a birthday party," Molly said, sounding annoyed.

"N-neither am I," the boy said.

There was a pause that was taken up by walking.

"L-look, just let me show you what I can do," the boy said, showing the first bit of backbone in the whole conversation. "I promise you won't be disappointed."

"I'm pretty sure that's a flag right there," Louise flatly. She also doubted he could talk, but held that in for the moment. She of all people knew better to judge someone's tanking ability by their appearance. Who knew, maybe he had some kind of ability that actually let him tank despite looking like an underfed… well, rabbit. Might as well stick with the theme.

"We'll hold you to that," Molly said, still smiling, though to Louise's experienced eye she looked skeptical.

Yeah, they were definitely still going to be looking for a tank.

….

There were no more speeches after they got back to the classroom, Mr. Coulson apparently considering them to have suffered enough. Instead, he laid out their schedule, had them double-check their electives, told them to get any second thoughts added or changed within the week, made sure they knew where the infirmaries were (which was mildly concerning), advised them against the burgers in the cafeteria (which apparently tended to be undercooked), and then it was time for their turns at the library orientation, the campus tour (where more worrying emphasis was placed on the multiple infirmary sites, and everyone noted the cafeteria and the official school item shops) and, finally, lunch.

As advised, they stayed away from the burgers.

In fact, they stayed away from the cafeteria altogether.

Because of strange and arcane reasons known only to motherkind that apparently hadn't changed with the New Game Plus, Molly and Louise's mothers had decided to pack them both lunch. There were various reasons involved, which had the words 'healthy' and 'nutritious' and 'balanced' and 'diabetes' used repeatedly, at greatly tedious length. A conspiracy of collusion was suspected to be involved at some point.

This meant they were spending lunch in the classroom, where they learned that their mothers were not alone in this madness. With one exception.

"Is that your lunch?" Louise asked, overtones of horror in her voice, with garnished shock and borderline revulsion.

"Yup!" her bubbly and energetic classmate with the lilac hair said, happily spooning the contents of her lunch bucket to her mouth without a care in the world. "I'd give you some, but I don't want to. I hope you understand. This is all mine!"

It was literally a bucket she was eating from, stainless steel with matching handle, the kind within which one might carry, say, live fish or rocks. Or in this case, a comically absurd amount of home-made pudding.

"Your lunch is a bucket of pudding," Molly said, sounding aghast and a little nauseous at the thought of such a thing.

"Yup!" Neptune Sega said, the conversation not seeming to slow down the rate in which she reached into the metal bucket and drew out yet another spoonful of sugary puddingness. "I made it last night to make sure I'd have something to eat today, or else mom might have sent me to school with eggplants or something. Ugh!"

"My mom made me eggplant," Takamachi Nanoha said in a small voice, as if she could not comprehend why this maniac would cast away her mother's eggplant for a bucket of pudding.

"And I'm sure it's filled with motherly love and healthy essential vitamins and nutrients," Neptune nodded. There did not yet seem to be a dent in the amount of pudding in her bucket. Was it some kind of ability? "But pudding is better. Ah, pudding!"

"My mom made it look really pretty," Nanoha offered in defense of her mother's efforts.

"Pudding!"

"If you throw up, you're cleaning it by yourself," Molly said, and several people nodded. There was much moving away from the expected blast radius.

Now having someone to ostracize, many of the girls sat together and compared lunches, where Nanoha's lunch, it was agreed, was definitely very pretty and the eggplant looked delicious.

"Shouldn't… we be trying to stop her?" Yuuki Asuna said, still watching Neptune out of the corner of her eye in fascinated horror. "I mean, she might end up killing herself."

"We probably don't need to worry," Kim Yoo-Jin said, adjusting her classes. "I can see her HP bar. She most likely has some form of Gamer Body. Though apparently, she's attained the 'Sugar Rush' status effect."

"She wasn't before?" Louise snarked, eyeing some of her classmates' lunches. Many were beautifully bright and vivid. The most you could say about her lunch was that it was well organized and had a lot of meat and calcium. Louise and her mother were still optimistic about her growth.

"So!" Molly said brightly, which was Louise's cue to leave well enough alone, "Louise and I were planning to party together later. Anyone want to join in? It's that place near Quadrillion park, Orario Dungeons. They're new, so they've got pretty good drop rates right now. I'm Molly, by the way."

"I'm Nanoha," Nanoha said pleasantly. "Do you want to try some eggplant?"

Proper introductions were made. The eggplant was offered and everyone agreed it was delicious.

"What sort party members are you looking for?" Tsunetsuki Matoi asked before long, slim fingers raised a mouthful to her lips.

"Well, we already have a tank, a guy who says he can tank but we'll see, and wizardly me," Molly said. "Though I'm more sustained DPS than a nuker. Can anyone here nuke?"

Nanoha hesitantly raised a hand. "Um, I can," she said. "At least, I'm a Touhou type. Though I need a little time to get my special gauge up."

"Awesome! Wanna come with us later?" Molly asked. "Everyone's welcome to come along. There's an entry fee for guests, but given the drops, we'll make enough to get it all back."

"I'm game," Asuna said. "I just got new sword I've been wanting to try out."

"I'm not a nuker, but I have decent DPS," Yoo-Jin said. "I'll have to call my parents first though."

"I'm free too," Matoi said. "I'm between loves at the moment, so my schedule is clear."

Louise paused, wondered if they should ask about that, then decided it wasn't her business.

"Between loves?" Nanoha asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means my heart is unclaimed, belonging not to another, and so my life is empty, waiting for the ray of light that is deep love to return to it once more," Matoi said.

"She's single," Molly translated. A beat. "I think."

Matoi smiled.

….

After lunch, they were told to change into their gym uniforms.

This meant the boys got kicked out into the hallway. Though the school uniforms were unisex (black pants, shirt/blouse, tie and green blazers for everyone) the bodies underneath definitely weren't.

"Hey," Louise, down to her pants and a bra she almost didn't need, poked Molly. "Is that girl from our class?"

Molly, who clearly _did_ need a bra, followed her gaze towards the red head who was cheerfully pulling her sweatpants on and tucking in her shirt. "No… I'd have remembered that hair, and you'd have remembered that rack."

"I don't stare at women's breasts," Louise said indignantly.

"Please, you know I need a new bra before _I_ do. Hey!" Molly called out, stalking towards the redheaded girl getting changed. "'Scuse me, are you sure this is your classroom?"

As others looked around at the commotion, the girl gave them a wide-eyed, surprised look, before light seemed to dawn and she reached down to grab her ID on the desk next to her. "Yeah, I'm sure. See, it's here and everything. "

She showed them the ID. Molly, Louise and several now-interested bystanders craned to look. It was an official ID all right, but the picture was all wrong. For one thing, it was a boy.

"This says you're a guy," Sari Sumdac said, giving the girl's generous chest a bland look. "Doesn't look like it."

"Oops, sorry, wrong side," the girl said, flipping the ID card over.

And there it was, the girl's picture and their classroom, though the name was still the same. It read "Mitsuka Souji".

"Funny," Yuki Makoto said. "You don't look like a Souji."

"It's my legal name," the girl said. "Got it on my birth certificate and everything."

"So… you're a boy?" Nanoha said, hands suddenly raising her shirt over her chest protectively.

" _And_ a girl," Souji said. "Have been since I was three, or so my mom says."

"Why'd you come to school as a guy then?" Louise demanded, having put on her shirt in record time.

"Toilets are less crowded," Souji said brightly. "And you're less likely to get felt up in the train."

"She's got a point," Hope Corrigan said.

"You're really a girl under there, right, not a trap?" Matoi said, finishing buckling a belt over her PE outfit.

"Really a girl," Souji affirmed.

"Okay then," Molly said. "Next time let your classmates know about this sort of thing, okay? Louise thought you'd walked into the wrong class."

"Sorry," Souji said. "People in my old school were so used to it I guess I forgot."

The girls dispersed, though Matoi paused and asked, in a low voice, "So, which way do you go, boys or girls?"

"Twintails," Souji said instantly.

Matoi paused to digest this. "Good luck then," she said as the door opened to admit Mr. Coulson and the boys back in.

"Shidou!" Souji chirped, bolding up a pair of hair ties. "Help me do my hair!"

….

"All right," Mr. Coulson said, smiling in a mild-mannered, reassuring way. "Last thing we're going to do today is the orientation exercise. Before I tell you what that is, I want to ask all of you: do you know what exactly your powers can do?"

Louise was part of the general confusion at this strange question. Of course they knew what their powers could do. After all, there was usually an information scroll when you brought up your status menu, and some people even had a 'Help' tab they could access.

"I'm assuming the general answer is 'yes'," Mr. Coulson said. "Would it surprise you to know you're wrong? Who here has super strength? Some kind of ability that lets them raise their strength stat? Ah, Miss Corrigan. Tell me, do you know how strong you are?"

"My Super Strength skill is Lvl 7 and my strength stat is 45," Hope said confidently.

"And that means what?" Coulson said.

"Well, when I started at level 1 my strength was 6 and I didn't have Super Strength," Hope said.

"And that means what?" Coulson repeated.

Hope opened her mouth, paused, and said, "I'm stronger than normal people?"

"I assume by that you mean people who don't explicitly have super strength," Coulson said. His gaze swept over the classroom. "You've all grown up with powers that you take for granted. _You_ know how strong you are, how tough you are, how fast you are, or at least you think you do. Except you don't. Not really. All you've likely ever done is go into a grind club's dungeon and hit a few mobs, or gone out to the countryside where no one was around and done a little playing around. You don't know because none of you have ever let loose. And I know you've never let loose because if you really have, people wouldn't have gotten hurt or dead and you wouldn't be in this classroom."

People looked worried at that.

"You're all here because you all have fine control of your powers, and the self-control not to use them beyond what society says was okay for kids your age," Coulson said. "Or you were just lucky enough not to get caught. That happens too. But since you're here, that all has to change. Here, in this school, in this classroom, you're going to have to learn how far the powers you have can push before you level up and have to relearn all over again. And that starts with the basics."

Coulson manipulated a tablet. "Virtual Reality meant something different when I was a kid. Used to mean you put on a goofy helmet accessory gimmick that made it seem like you were in the game." He gave the tablet a final tap. "These days, it means one of these."

In the back of the room, a section of bare wall split in the middle, revealing itself to have been a door. It did not lead to the classroom next door.

"Each classroom is equipped with its own Dungeon Framework Generator," Coulson said. "Which you'll only be using under teacher supervision, so don't get any ideas. Everyone follow me."

He locked the classroom's doors and led the way into the dungeon. The students crowded in after him. After a short stretch of tunnel, they found themselves in the dungeon, although technically it was called a Virtual Reality Environment. Everyone still called them dungeons though.

The dungeon, despite being called that, was neither underground, enclosed, and neither full of prison cells or torture implements. There were no beds, kinky sex toys, ropes, chains or even an indoor location. Indeed, the dungeon looked like an outdoor athletic field, with an oval track, high jump bars, squares of sand for jumping events and other plots painted white with measures for various athletic activities.

"Today, you're going to get an idea of what it is you can really do," Coulson said. "You'll each be taking five physical exercises: a softball pitch, a standing long jump, the 50 meter dash, a grip strength test, and a high jump. Only this time, you're taking them with your powers cranked up to as high as you think you can go. And as a bonus, you can also try your luck at the lift exercises." He nodded at the far end of the field, where several large chunks of concrete stood. "For reference, the small one is about 140 kilos, that boxy one weighs as much as a fully loaded car, the one next to it weighs the same as a loaded van, _that_ long one is a loaded bus, and that huge hunk of metal that looks like a battle tank is, in fact, a battle tank. After we're done, you all get a special treat. So let's get started. First up, Aensland, Akemi, Arc, Beolve, Carpenter! Let's see how fast you can go! And remember, powers are okay. Buff if you have them!"

….

Louise did not do well in the dash, being that she was short and kinda slow. Molly did slightly better, but that was because she exercised. Lacking a speed buff, she was only normal. That Bell guy actually did pretty well, making it in 3.78 seconds, but then one of the last guys, Wally West, blew through the track in a streak of red and lightning streaks, not stopping until he was halfway down the athletic field.

"0.2 seconds," Coulson said. "Pretty good second."

Second because the best guy had powered up with a full costume change before he'd gotten into place, a white, fluffy thing trimmed in gold that came with a golden crown floating around his head, while golden, feather-like pillars floated around him. When Coulson gave the signal to start, he disappeared, only to reappear in the same instant at the finish line.

"Time, 0.001 seconds, and only because that's as low as this thing will go," Coulson said. "You know how fast you were going, son?"

Shidou shuffled, looking embarrassed, which likely was the case given what he was now wearing. "Speed of light? That's what my status menu says."

"And we have this class's first violation of the laws of physics and general relativity," Coulson said cheerfully as he made a note on his tablet. "We're coming along to a good start!"

Louise did much better at the grip strength test, since a lot of her strength was in her arms, scoring a decent 140 kg. Others were in the same range, like that Lilith girl with the batwings on her head who was clearly a succubus, and that greenhaired girl with the twintails. To the surprise of no one, especially since she'd admitted to super strength, Hope Corrigan scored highest, outright breaking the dynamometer.

"Eh, that happens," Coulson said, waving away her apologies and making a note.

Next was the high jump, no flying. Louise couldn't even reach the bar, Souji, who pulled yet another transformation out of nowhere to become an armored loli even shorter than Louise, went up a really unfair 150 meters straight up, apparently slamming into the dungeon's ceiling. Ruby Rose managed a more controlled 37 meters, and the pudding girl transformed into a taller formed and managed a respectable 45 meters.

The softball pitch was no improvement over her previous middle school efforts. Her muscles and powers were the lifting and swinging kind, not the throwing kind. She didn't manage to throw very far. Molly did, but again, exercise. Most of the class were pretty good, though some couldn't seem to throw at all.

Standing long jump was a repeat of the high jump, except they went further instead of just higher.

As for the bonus strength lift, only five managed to so much as budge the 140 kilo block, and only Hope got higher, managing to lift the van and the bus, but only tipping over the tank.

"We're asking her to tank later, right?" Louise asked Molly.

"Oh yeah, we're definitely asking," Molly said, grinning. "So is everyone else in the class, and probably the year too, if they knew."

Sweaty, comparing numbers and, in many cases, dropping transformations, people quieted as Coulson held up a hand.

"Pretty good showing out there. Good job," he said. "I saw a lot of interesting numbers, and those are just the people these tests are meant to measure. I'm sure the next part is going to give the others a chance to shine. I promised you a treat, and you're going to get one. Did anyone leave any gear behind in the classroom? Something they need to use their abilities to the fullest?"

Louise looked around, then raised her hand when she saw other people were doing so as well.

Coulson gestured. "Go back and get it. But be quick. You're going to want all the time you can get with this."

There was a small exodus of students back to the classroom, Louise and Molly among them. Louise headed for her bag and drew out her rune-painted canvas sheets. About the size of a really small table cloth, they weren't really painted with runes, but stitched and inked with five different symbols in a circle. She rolled them up and waited for Molly, who was pulling a pair of wooden wands topped with quartz crystal held in place by wire from her bag.

When they got back, a bunch of people were carrying all sorts of seemingly unrelated knickknacks. Matoi was carrying a bag of toy weapons. Not real weapons, like some of the others had gone for, toy ones. She recognized at least one of them as a toy replica of a wand from an old anime.

"One last word of warning," Coulson said. He too was looking at the toy wand. "This is going to be a real test of your abilities. Not just as individuals, but as a class. And unfortunately, there's a good chance your gear is going to break." He explicitly glanced at the toy wand, and the wire holding Molly's crystals together. "And according to the waiver you signed when you enrolled, the school isn't liable for any breakages. And I can almost guarantee there's going to be a high risk of breakages from this point on. Last chance?" No one moved. "Okay then. Time for your treat."

He tapped the tablet.

The athletic field flickered away, the track circle, weights and lines on the ground disappearing, leaving them on a seemingly endless grassy plain. He tapped again.

A gigantic monster came into existence.

Louise stared. Bone white plating over stark black skin, it was a gigantic, colossal skeleton-like dragonic beast with huge claws that almost trailed on the ground and a large mouth on its lower half, like a demented centaur made by sitting a gargoyle on an alligator's head.

"This is Trillion," Coulson explained casually. "So named because apparently at some point, someone decided that what the world needed was a ridiculously overpowered juggernaut with a trillion HP. And dragon breath. And spawning minions. And an AoE poison cloud attack. And multiple forms."

"Why kind of degenerate makes something with a trillion HP?" Louise demanded

"You have thirty seconds before it becomes active," he smiled and stepped back into a green-tinted area with a chair. "Have fun."

Louise ran to the side where there was some clear space and threw down her cloths. Four of them had distorted faces, while the fifth showed a stylized tower. "Overlord," she muttered, before holding out her hands toward the cloths. " _Minions!_ "

Four of the cloths glowed, and launching from them as if from a spring, small, brightly colored, kinda annoying little creatures shot out, many shouting "Nunu ta overlord!"

"Shut up!" she cried. "Go to the tower and get my armor! Now! And my sword! The nice one that Mrs. Carpenter made me! Move it!"

Minions began diving into the circle on the fifth cloth.

Behind her, her own classmates were similarly occupied in rather panicked preparations.

Thirty seconds passed much too quickly for many people's peace of mind.

Trillion roared and began to lumber towards them.

….

 **\- To be continued…**

….

 **Name** : Louise Valliere

 **Power Type:** Action Type

 **Power Class:** Main Character Class

 **Ability Name:** Overlord

 **Ability Description:** Overlord allows for basic elemental energy projection, simple buff and debuff effects, energy shield creation, territory control (specifically, of a 'Tower), waypoint-based translocation, enhanced physical strength, enhanced physical endurance, HP-based physiology, limited augmented reality perception, limited energy collection, the creation of four distinct types of semi-intelligent(?) entities known as 'minions', limited crafting ability (only within the confines of the 'Tower', and limited to plate armor, helmets, swords [European], axes, maces, hammers, flails, and shields) and purely aesthetic glowing eyes.

'Minions' come in four types, classified by color. Yellow minions are the physically strongest, and are capable of utilizing any found weaponry and armor in the manner in which it was intended with full proficiency upon acquisition. Although not directly controlled, they are capable of following complex orders and possess limited initiative. However, they are not very smart.

Red minions are more frail, but are immune to the effects of heat and flame, and capable of launching 'fireballs' in a parabolic arc within limited close range quarters. Prone to drowning at the slightest provocation, no matter how shallow. Not very smart.

Green minions are physically stronger and faster than yellow minions and are capable of limited adaptive camouflage. However, they are more frail still, possess no initiative and can only follow simple directions usually composed of at most three words. Orders four words long are likely to be misunderstood. Prone to drowning at the slightest provocation, even when not near water.

Blue minions have almost non-existent durability and can be killed by two kicks in rapid succession. However, they possess innate regeneration and healing ability, and can revive dead minions at will. They are also the only minions who can float, and thus are unlikely to drown, though it has been known to happen. Not very smart.

….

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


End file.
